


Last Words with An Aftertaste of Blood

by Innocentfighter



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arson, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Chronic Illness, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 19:17:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16980255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innocentfighter/pseuds/Innocentfighter
Summary: Sometimes, death just happens. Jason knows this better than most.





	Last Words with An Aftertaste of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Big Sad.

Jason knows he’ll die. The alien technology told him as much. Not from injuries or illness, his body was simply failing. You can’t fix that, and he doesn’t mind it. He was living well past when he was meant to die.

Roy asks him, and Jason tells him his injuries were healing.

It’s not until he’s fully healed that he notices that things feel off. Not that he believes the alien tech lied to him, but Jason guesses he was in denial. He’s had a rough month. He just learned he was going to die. Jason thinks he’s entitled to a little denial. Not only is he going to die, but he’s also going to die alone, and his “family” won’t know for months afterward.

Roy has fucked off to rehab, Jason’s proud of him if bitter, and no one else wants to be associated with him. He’s on Batman’s shit list and the heroes that don’t care about that avoid him on an ethical basis.

Two decades and he’s in the same place he was as a child: a nameless soul that doesn’t have a person to care about his death. Except he’s banned from Gotham and it’s hate, not apathy that’s left him alone. The grave is one of his own making. Killing Penguin isn’t a regret, but he would have gone after someone deadlier if he knew what the cost would be.

* * *

Several months after he’s made peace with his deadline, he gets a message to meet Bruce at a diner that’s about a state away.

He knows Bruce doesn’t want to talk about any actual problems.

Unsurprisingly, he’s right.

Meeting with Bruce is awkward. Bruce seems to understand he might’ve had a too violent reaction, but he doesn’t say that. Jason knows he wouldn’t.

_You don’t even hit Joker this hard, and you **hate** him._

They talk about it as a _thing_ that _happened._ Penguin isn’t dead. Jason is dying alone for nothing. Bruce keeps the Gotham Ban active. He barely keeps himself from punching Bruce. It’s a fight he won’t win. But it isn’t fair.

It’s all about the intent with him. Dick and Katherine and Damian can kill but they’re forgiven and welcomed back into the manor. Jason, the failed son, can’t because he’s not worth the effort. He came from violence so that means he won’t ever escape that life. Bruce has always condemned him. Maybe if he had been the first Robin, but that would never happen.

When there’s a lull in the conversation Bruce tells him Roy was killed.

Jason is angry. Roy was supposed to be safe, but that’s the risk they all run living their lives like this. He tells Bruce that much.

He also tells Bruce that he’s dying. Not in so many words, that would be _emotional_ and Bruce doesn’t do _emotions_ with him. It’s easier to beat the shit out of him and then let Jason do all the heavy lifting because he cares so damn much.

_With the time I have left._

Jason hates it. Hates that when the madness is silent, he cares for them like an _actual_ family. Bruce is the one that’s fucked it all to hell, but Jason gets the blame.

So, he tells Bruce, because he hopes that when he finally dies and they find out Bruce will look back and see that it was Jason who was reaching out. They might frequently hate each other, but Bruce has always been one of the only adults Jason loved like a parent. Alfred and Diana are the other two.

He’ll give him the closure now, because when it’s his time, Jason isn’t making sure that he doesn’t get to have a third life. They would never know the truth.

When it’s time for them to part ways, they hug. Jason lets the warmth sink into the permanent chill that surrounds him. Bruce doesn’t ask.

They part ways.

* * *

A year passes, and Jason knows his time is up. His body feels drained, he stopped tasting food weeks ago. Blood is all he can taste, it feels like it’s always in his mouth. He has to spit and cough to get some relief, but it doesn’t last. Jason feels like his bones are grinding together and his senses have been muffled. Once clear sounds of traffic sound like it is miles away

He can’t help but think of Bruce in moments like these. When they got burgers and drove out of the city and found a spot that overlooked the city.

His plans were finalized two months ago. It’s good because he wouldn’t be able to do them now.

He’s in an old wooden shack in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. It used to be an old hunting lodge from what he’s gathered, but the deforesting of the area has left it the only break on the snow plains. No one used it, so Jason figures it would be too much of a loss.

There’s a town about thirty miles to the east. They won’t notice and if they do, there won’t be reason enough to investigate. Although they know someone lives out in that direction. Jason decided that as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t just leave Bruce with words he spoke fourteen months ago as the only clue to what happened to him.

So, he sent a letter to the only person he knows would open it in the family: Alfred. He thought about sending personalized letters to all of them, but his hand was shaking so bad and he was so exhausted after the first one that Jason knew he couldn’t. There was also the chance that those letters would be shredded or burned depending on how badly Bruce twisted the story.

Truthfully Bruce’s only faults in the story are his reaction and failure to believe in his son. He did once, but Jason spat on that trust like he spits out blood now.

_I should have never believed in you._

Carefully he sets the fire, enough kindling outside of the grate and oil soaked wood would make any investigator think that this was an unlucky tragedy caused by a careless camper. Jason goes back to the bed and curls up.

On the nightstand in front of him is the most recent picture he has of him with his family. Dick had still been dating Kori and Tim was still with Stephanie. They all thought that this was a holiday of promise. A tradition they could forge. The picture is creased where Jason had it in his utility belt or when he crumpled it after a fight. Bruce’s face is covered in white lines and there’s a line down the middle of Jason’s face.

Alfred and Tim are the least damaged figures in the photo and Damian are barely in it as he decided to walk out halfway through the posing. He’s being pulled in by Dick and there’s a look of surprise on his face. Dick’s arm is scratched out for some reason.

Jason closes his eyes and slowly slips away.

* * *

 

> _Alfred,_
> 
> _It’s been a long time. I miss your cooking._
> 
> _Tell Bruce that I said thank you for giving me a chance even though he wishes he hadn’t._
> 
> _Tell Dick that I’m grateful he kept trying to be a brother even when I didn’t want him to bother._
> 
> _Tell Tim that even though I hated him for a time I’m glad he was able to save Brue from himself._
> 
> _Tell Damian that his past doesn’t have to define him and that you never get over the whole resurrection thing, but it gets better._
> 
> _Tell… tell everyone else that they did help me. That I was grateful for everything they did and that there were only a few times that I really did hate them._
> 
> _This was my family… and that was enough for me._
> 
> _Don’t come looking for me. By the time you read this letter, I’ll be dead._
> 
> _Not because I offed myself or a villain caught up. Just because I’m one unlucky Son of a Bitch and my time came._
> 
> _Alfred, thank you. For being there, understanding when no one else tried. I don’t know how I could have repaid you._
> 
> _-Jason Peter Todd_

**Author's Note:**

> As always let me know what you think below! Also please let me know if I need to add anymore tags!


End file.
